Thursday, March 8, 2012

The mainstream media got the Super Tuesday story wrong. Very wrong. Again.

I'm sure you heard them gleefully talk about which establishment candidate "won" which primary or caucus Tuesday night, if you were even watching. Most Americans thankfully had more sense and switched on something else.

The fact is, just like in many of the earlier contests, very few delegates to the Republican National Convention were decided on Tuesday. Most will be decided several weeks, or even months, from now at District and State conventions - conventions where our local delegates will have a big say in who goes to Tampa.

In fact, while I didn't win any state's straw polls, my team expects me to win a plurality of delegates in at least three states, as well as outright majorities in two more of the states that have already started their process.

Of course, the media totally ignores this story - as they have consistently ignored our message, our passion, and our grassroots army.

Even more lost in the shuffle is that no candidate for President has even made it one-third of the way toward the number of delegates needed to win the nomination.

And for that reason I am determined to proudly battle on, picking up more delegates and skewering the pretensions and historical rewrites of ALL the establishment candidates – Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich.

And I will continue to proudly speak up for liberty, respecting the Constitution in domestic and foreign policy, and returning to a limited government that acts and spends within its means.

And I will continue to do so as long as you will stand with me.

So what does all of that mean?

It means this race is FAR from over. In fact, you could argue it is just getting started. With the decisive number of delegates still to be awarded between now and June, and with our activists swarming local and county delegate selections, you and I will surely end up with an army of delegates...

… IF we don't give up now.

I know it can be tempting to hear and believe the reports of how we can't win. Even worse, you can listen to the professional political class tell you that ideas, the grassroots, and the future do not matter. They rarely say it directly, but their message to you and me from Day One has been - if you cannot win it all this year, you shouldn't even try. It can be tempting to question whether or not all the hard work is worth it.

Well, I know it is. That's why I'm flying thousands of hours and crisscrossing the country. That's why I am leaving my family and home for weeks on end - to fight for the future of our movement and our country.

I am vowing to you today that I will keep fighting. I will fight in every convention and every place where delegates will be selected. I will fight until there is a clear winner - not because the media says that’s the end, but because the nomination has been clinched.

And by my calculations, that may never actually happen. Even if one candidate starts to rack up a clear advantage, it is unlikely he will have all the delegates needed to win on the first ballot.

And if that is the case, then the hundreds of delegates who support our ideals and my campaign (many of whom may be bound to another candidate for the first ballot or two but then free to vote their conscience), will be unleashed.

And they will hold the key to deciding the nominees for President and Vice President, as well as what the platform and policies of the Republican Party will be.

These things – and, even more, the long-term standing of the liberty movement - are worth fighting for, even when we are tired and feel like quitting.

But I cannot do it alone.

Will you join me over these next few weeks and months in pressing our battle forward?